"News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

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"News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by *5 J's* »

Inspired by dna1990, below is the "News Truck" I started building today. It will utilize the Mini-Video Camera I picked up on ebay.

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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by dna1990 »

:salute:
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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by shawnr5 »

Pretty cool. Is it 2.4ghz? Does it have an internal battery or do you still need to add one? Will you be able to bring it in under 5oz?

Hopefully, the pack will have a projector running that you can hook your laptop to. Unfortunately, the video would be better if the other cars in the heat were ahead of the camera. If yours happens to be fastest, run it backwards.
If no one is questioning whether our cars are legal, I'm not working hard enough at interpreting the rules.
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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by *5 J's* »

shawnr5 wrote:Pretty cool. Is it 2.4ghz? Does it have an internal battery or do you still need to add one? Will you be able to bring it in under 5oz?
Yes, 2.4ghz. It uses a 9v battery. See this post to see dna1990's original. I doubt it will be under 5oz, which is fine as this car is not being built to compete. It will be an exhibition car.
shawnr5 wrote:Hopefully, the pack will have a projector running that you can hook your laptop to. Unfortunately, the video would be better if the other cars in the heat were ahead of the camera. If yours happens to be fastest, run it backwards.
We will have the video piped into to a projector - when the News Truck is not running we'll have it viewing the start gate or finish line.
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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by whodathunkit »

Looks like you've got a very nice build started!
I do hope you'll post pics of the finshed product.
It would nice to see the A team van paint job or
perhaps a brown U.P.S truck !
what ever you do i'm sure it will be a nice
News Truck product in the end.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by *5 J's* »

whodathunkit wrote:Looks like you've got a very nice build started!
I do hope you'll post pics of the finshed product.
It would nice to see the A team van paint job or
perhaps a brown U.P.S truck !
what ever you do i'm sure it will be a nice
News Truck product in the end.
Truck is all prepped for paint - just haven't seemed to find the time this past week. Perhaps this weekend. News Truck will be white with some "News Truck" type graphics on the side.
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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by SuperGeekDad »

With a big hat tip to dna1990 and 5Js, I thought I'd post the pictures of my news truck. Does it look familiar? ;)

It came in at 9.4 oz, but the lego satellite dishes give it enough of a sail effect to keep it behind the racers.

The decals were printed on Papilio's clear laser waterslide decal paper. These were MUCH less frustrating to use than the inkjet decal paper I've used in the past, which would smear no matter what printer settings were used. Definitely recommended.

Also FYI, I purchased both the Astak camera and the 'mini wireless color camera with microphone' camera from Amazon to compare their quality. The colors in the Astak camera were pretty awful. I might have got a bum unit, but the Amazon camera was much, much better. The only problem with the setup is that vibrations cause the wireless video to be pretty glitchy. Its not terrible, but definitely noticable as the truck is coming down the track.

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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by dna1990 »

Kewl! The sat dishes really set it off.

Remember to use the 'News Crew' to just walk around with the truck and 'interview' audience members and such. Great for the few lulls that come up during a race.
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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by gpraceman »

SuperGeekDad wrote:The only problem with the setup is that vibrations cause the wireless video to be pretty glitchy. Its not terrible, but definitely noticable as the truck is coming down the track.
You can use some double sided foam tape to attach the camera to the chassis. That will help dampen some of the vibration. There is also some Moongel pads that are even better. You can find them at stores selling musical instruments. Some people have used those pads to attach cameras to RC aircraft for vibration dampening.
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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by FatSebastian »

gpraceman wrote:There is also some Moongel pads that are even better.
How does Moongel work? Is it adhesive? How permanent is it?
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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by gpraceman »

FatSebastian wrote:
gpraceman wrote:There is also some Moongel pads that are even better.
How does Moongel work? Is it adhesive? How permanent is it?
I have never used the stuff myself, just seen it mentioned on the RC forums. I do understand it to be quite tacky, though, i doubt it is permanent.
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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by sporty »

Would foam work ? I mean the camera is light and there is stiffer kinds of foam to try out at a low cost of scrap at the local hardware store.

Maybe even a few pieces of old inner tube might work.

Maybe even a made up silicone base might work also.


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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by whodathunkit »

Nice Job on the "News Truck"!

I'm like Sporty on this one.

Would a Closed-cell foam, slow recovery memory foam, qualex foam,-
polyethylene,neoprene, polystyrene, work for vibration-suppression pads?

I like the moongel pad idea also.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by Duane »

mousepad foam.
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Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

Post by SuperGeekDad »

Thanks to all for the ideas. I'll report back if I find something that works.
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